Early morning in Lawrence

Police officer patrols city while others prepare for day ahead

Lawrence police officer Michael McLaren inspects criminal damage to a vehicle near the Kansas University campus on May 10. Such crimes are not uncommon in Lawrence, particularly during the late night and early-morning hours.

What turns up later on in McLaren's shift is a homeless man on a downtown sidewalk.

He is, as the city ordinance would put it, camped illegally.

The man has no interest in moving from his spot, prompting McLaren and two other officers to arrest him.

That's among the last things McLaren will do this morning.

Friday, however, with classes over, should be more eventful, he says.

"Tomorrow," he predicts, "will be a different animal."

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Like clockwork, Kirsten Krug awakens at 4 a.m., then again at 4:45.

It's not until a few minutes before 5:30 - when her actual alarm clock is supposed to go off - that she rolls out of bed, clicks off the switch and avoids the loud dose of the just-in-case 105.9-FM programming for yet another day.

Time to check the e-mail on her Motorola handheld, attacking the work day before most people have managed to stop snoring.

"I see if I need to fire somebody when I get in," she says.

As human resources director at a major manufacturing plant, a mother of two and wife of the owner of Lawrence's two Baskin Robbins stores, Krug figures she doesn't have much time to sleep.

There are employees to manage, breakfasts to be made and little details to tend to.

"I'm a morning person," she says. "Don't get me wrong: I would love to sleep until 11 some morning, but that's not real life."

After taking a quick shower, making a pot of coffee, loading laundry into the washing machine and settling in to read the paper, Krug has cleared her schedule enough to take on the next big chore.

Her youngest daughter, Payton, 3, soon will greet mommy with the same question she poses each morning: Is this a stay-home day or a school day?

"I have to break it to her: Yes, it is a school day," Krug says. "But we only have two days left to the weekend."

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Brad Stoll wakes up at 6 a.m. to the alarm on his wristwatch. The Lawrence High School baseball coach has a long day ahead of him.

High from a win the night before against cross-town rival Free State, he has a rematch tonight.

Stoll, 34, calls himself a "diaper-changing dad." He spent half the night in a rocking chair cradling his 1-year-old son Sammy, who was battling an ear infection. His wife, Emili, a teacher at Sunset Hill School, held Sammy the rest of the evening.

There is a 40 percent chance of rain tonight. "I'm a 'glass half full' guy. So, there's a 60 percent chance of sunny skies," he says.

Still, he turns on the Weather Channel on the TV in the family room off the kitchen. When Stoll walks out of the room, Jack, his 4-year-old, picks up the remote and puts on the cartoon "The Goodnight Show" on the Sprout network. Stoll quickly retreats to the family room and puts back on the weather. "Just a few more minutes," he says to Jack.

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Quail Run School counselor Harold Nelson is fast asleep from midnight until 6 a.m. His busy day is yet to start.